Akerele, D. D., Aguayo, F., & Thonstad, T. (2026). Curing Temperature Sensitivity and Strength Development of Polymer-Modified High-Early-Strength Belitic Calcium Sulfoaluminate Cement Concrete. Construction Materials, 6(5), 61. https://doi.org/10.3390/constrmater6050061
Abstract
High-early-strength concretes are increasingly used for pavement repairs requiring a rapid return to service across a range of climatic conditions. This study evaluated two high-early-strength concrete mixtures containing polymer-modified belitic calcium sulfoaluminate (BCSA) cement, and one containing Type III Portland cement as a reference mixture. Constituents were preconditioned and samples were cured at 10 °C, 23 °C, or 35 °C. Internal temperatures were monitored for 24 h after mixing for the chamber-cured samples, and compressive strength was measured, starting 2 h after mixing, up to 28 d. Polymer-modified BCSA mixtures developed strengths suitable for traffic reopening (>17.2 MPa) within 4 h when cured at 35 °C and 23 °C and within 24 h when cured at 10 °C. Samples from the BCSA mixtures cured at 35 °C, reached peak internal temperatures exceeding 50 °C and their 28 d strengths were roughly 10–15% lower than the strengths of samples cured at 23 °C. Curing at 10 °C delayed strength development but increased the 28 d compressive strength of BCSA samples by over 25% relative to samples cured at 23 °C. Exploratory two-way ANOVA indicated mixture-by-temperature interactions at both 1 d and 28 d, although additional testing is needed to augment the small sample size and decouple the effects of thermal history and moisture exposure. The findings highlight the crucial relationship between curing conditions and strength development in polymer-modified BCSA concretes and emphasize the importance of suitable curing practices when specifying BCSA concrete for rapid pavement repairs.
Keywords
high-early-strength concrete; belitic calcium sulfoaluminate cement; rapid repair; polymer-modified concrete; curing temperature; transportation infrastructure